Jazz & The City 2017

Salzburg's old town as a playground for an international community of musicians

Jazz & The City Salzburg has been bringing improvised sounds to the old town for 18 years. Although the local scene is still an important aspect, the program has become increasingly international. It is not the big names that give the festival its reputation, but rather the individual experience of discovery of its visitors: the diversity of the European Jazz scene, the developments on the American East Coast, and whoever or whatever is looking to meet with Jazz from the world- and electronic music-scene.

Salzburg's old town as a playground for an international community of musicians

Jazz & The City Salzburg, festival Oct. 25.-29. 2017

5 days - 50 stages - 100 concerts - free admission

Jazz & The City Salzburg has been bringing improvised sounds to the old town for 18 years. Although the local scene is still an important aspect, the program has become increasingly international. It is not the big names that give the festival its reputation, but rather the individual experience of discovery of its visitors: the diversity of the European Jazz scene, the developments on the American East Coast, and whoever or whatever is looking to meet with Jazz from the world- and electronic music-scene.

This happens extremely sensually and atmospherically – at concert venues, which could not be more different: in the vastness of the baroque Kollegienkirche with its nine seconds of reverb, on the rehearsal-stage of the University Mozarteum, in the wine archive of the Blaue Gans, in the tight space of the rustic restaurant Pauli Stubm, over the roofs of the city in the M32 at the Museum der Moderne, in the Landestheater, in the Getreidegasse and in an abandoned tenement building.

Out Of The Box "Out of the Box" stands for just that – taking an alternative approach, thinking outside and beyond one's own horizon. This format lets creatives put the old town under the microscope. Within the framework of the project of the same name, which is supported by the federal government and the state, musicians from the festival exchange ideas are with doctors, architects, city planners, artists, actors, historians, and others in a two-day meeting on and around the subject "Improvisation and the City" – with no clear outcome. In doing so, they continuously invite the visitors of the festival to participate – in the Künstlerhaus or at the fictional Chelsea Hotel in the Andräviertel.

This is made possible especially by the fact that many musicians stay in the old town for a rather long time. One could almost speak of „artists in residence“.

The Norwegian pianist Bugge Wesseltoft, for example, will not only be performing solo, but will also present artists from his label 'Jazzland' during another evening; from the young group Moksha and the singer Rohey to the Austrian Radio.String.Quartet. Finnish guitarist Kalle Kalima, who plays the big stage of the Republic with the group A Novel of Anomaly, has also extended his stay throughout the festival week and will follow in the tradition to experience music in an intimate setting in tiny venues, which was established during the previous years, with a new edition of the “Sofa concerts” in the guitar-shop "Riverside Guitars".

Special attention is given to the Dutch saxophonist Marike Van Dijk. After publicly rehearsing her project „Stereography“ with musicians from New York and Austria, such as Lukas Kranzelbinder, David Helbock, or Christoph Pepe Auer, she will also present the final result in a concert Setting.

Most of the participating musicians, like the American singer Jeff Taylor or the British singer-songwriter Katell Keineg, will also be heard at spontaneous collaborations – the Blind Dates – during the festival.

The longest journey to Salzburg will be made by a group of young musicians from Zimbabwe - Mokoomba will open the festival on Wednesday evening, and visitors will be able to experience them in different places throughout the week.

The venue of iconic fusion-band Azymuth is more permanent. The Brazilian trio will be performing at the Late Night Session in the Festival Jazz Club at the Sternbräu after their own concert on three evenings.

Long nights The nights are lit up by different DJ sets from Salzburg, London, and Berlin. Speaking of Berlin. In coop with the XJazz Festival from the German capital Sebastian Studnitzky and his project Memento, as well as the TechnoJazz Band Komfortrauschen from Berlin will be guesting at the festival in Salzburg. Also waiting to be discovered are 47 Soul – four young Palestinians who live in different countries, singing of their desire for freedom to highly danceable 'shamstep'. One can end the night to the spherical electronic sounds of Nils Petter Molvaer & Stian Westerhus.

The female side of the world music A recurrent theme in the world music themed bands oft eh festival are women: from Nataša Mirković, who sings sephardic songs accompanied by Michel Godard, via Hungarian guitarist Zsófia Boros, the young Brazilian band Quartabê, the Angolan singer-songwriter Aline Frazão or Timna Brauer, an Israeli singer living in Vienna, on to the Neapolitan voices of Assurd. The Grand Finale will be taking place at the Landestheater with the Italian singers Lucilla Galeazzi and Elena Ledda, who dedicate themselves to classic workers- and partisans-songs from their homeland with the ensemble Bella Ciao.

The festival and the local scene This year, due to a sponsorship by the City of Salzburg, the festival will be cooperating with the „Jazzit“ for the first time – the club will present a , which offers a "guest performance“ on a stage in the old town and will also open its doors in the area around the main station for concerts by festival artists. Some of the musicians presented here are from Salzburg, whose musical careers began with performances and sessions at the Jazzit: pianist Elias Stemeseder, saxophonist Fabian Rucker (and his group Namby Pamby Boy), or saxophonist and bassist Peter Fürhapter with The Rasp.

New venues will be added due to newly established coops with the University Mozarteum, the youth center Yoco in the Markussaal and the Musikum Salzburg.

"It is very important to us, within the framework of the festival, to turn our attention to the protagonists and institutions that provide musical diversity throughout the year and make Salzburg's old town attractive for all age groups," says Tina Heine, who debuted as the new artistic director of festival last year and will ensure a consistent implementation of this idea during this year’s festival as well.

Children's and family programs, artists' collaborations, workshops for musicians, movies and a wide range of culinary delights make this five-day-festival a festive week for all age groups. On these days, a variety can be felt that draws the charm of Salzburg's old town beyond its beautiful scenery.

Free admission for all events is made possible by the generous support of the entrepreneurs of the old town as well as loyal sponsors and patrons, who have accompanied this festival for many years.

Adds Mag. Inga Horny, Managing Director of the Altstadtverband (the old town association): "With "Jazz & The City Salzburg" we are anchoring the old town in the here and now, while at the same always being in search of what is still to come".